theconfusedartist:

The Problem of Bakugo Katsuki

I’m not really the most active in the NBA fandom, and I dont often make text posts about it, but sometimes, I get the urge and write it out. Particularly, there’s one character in baha that pisses me off, for his actions as well as how the narrative treats him: Bakugo Katsuki.

Now, a lot of people like him and others also say that he’s getting better in the manga/anime after his second fight with Izuku, which is very true, he does get better, but the issue is that is you’re starting with the bar set so low for a character that him demanding answers and not aggressively yelling at someone he’s known his entire life rather than verbally mocking him…shouldn’t be a big step. Bakugo hasn’t apologized or said that he regrets his actions, but he has given Izuku advice, once or maybe twice.

But that’s it.

Where Bakugo progresses is a huge leap for him, but not even a splash ina puddle compared to everyone else’s development.

For fucks sake, we start out with an introduction to Bakugo as a four year old beating up Izuku because he stood up for a different kid Bakugo was targeting. Fast forward to the present day and Bakugo has only gotten worse, mocking Izuku in front of the class, harassing him, burning his skin and his notebook and then telling him to kill himself!

I just want to note, this was all in the FIRST FEW CHAPTERS OF THE STORY.

And then is promptly never brought up again, not by Izuku, any other adults who are supposed to watch over the kids, or the fucking narrative either.

The narrative is constantly praising Bakugo for strength and persistence, in the form of winning, friends, and acknowledgment, but as for the things that he did when we first met him? Not a fucking peep.

Bakugo has never had to face any consequences for his actions and the development that we, as a fandom, praise him for getting, is laughable compared to ANY of the other characters in the story.

I’ll use Todoroki as an example: the readers (and by extension, class 1A) all know and acknowledge that Todoroki is powerful, even before they knew that he had two quirks. He’s proficient, efficient, and stayed away from other people in his class. Because of this, he had no friends, no other relationships with the cast until the tournament, and the word of his strength alone isn’t enough for people in his class to seek him out and try to befriend him. He stays a loner until he accepts his powers for his own and reaches out to Izuku as a comrade.

On the other hand we have Bakugo, who everyone knows is strong, but rather than being quiet like Todoroki, he’s loud, brash, puts others down, and treats the people around him like trash. And yet, unlike Todoroki, he gets?? Friends? Praise? People that have no real reason to give a shit about him caring about him? Case in point, there’s not a single time that I can remember in the manga that Bakugo has ever said that Ashido, Kaminari, Kirishima, or Sero are his friends. I might be wrong, but I think I would remember going nearly 200 chapters and seeing positive dialogue from Bakugo, the king of putting other people down.

Is there any reason that these characters consider Bakugo a friend? No. Has the group, with Bakugo in it, been shown to spend time with these characters or get to know him? No. So, why are they friends of Bakugo? The story never addresses this, but nonchalantly establishes this with no real evidence as to how this could even be slightly plausible. The truth of the matter is that most of the things that Bakugo has accomplished are given to him, rather than earned like the other characters, to justify his strength, even when it doesn’t make sense (case and point, Bakugo vs Uraraka).

I know that people like Bakugo, and there’s nothing wrong with that, however it becomes a problem when I have to see KiriBaku and IzuBaku shown as if it would ever be a good relationship in canon. Sure, there’s some really good fanfiction out there that addresses problems like these but for the most part it gets swept under the rug, and it’s a fucking trend with Bakugo. Nothing he says or does matters, he’s just going to win and get all the things other people get because no one cares about his behavior.

Its maddening and honestly, it just makes me wish that instead we got prototype Bakugo, who instead of telling people to kill themselves is literally anyone else that isn’t as much as an arrogant dick head with an over inflated ego that canon Bakugo has.